Snow Flakes
by kirayasha aka kira
Summary: Gift!fic for my dear friend, Hime-sma! REn's & Sui's first date... set in the the Homecoming universe.


Snow Flakes

By kira

_For Hime-sama! Happy Bday and many, many, many more to come!! _

_Author's note: As always special thanks to my beta, Jen, for reading this over and naming it. Thank you also to Charity for giving this another run through!  
_

888

Renkotsu checked the time on his watch. _Two hours to go before I need to be at Hirata-sensei's home…_ He felt nervous as hell, as he was not sure whether or not the handsome doctor saw their get together as a date or simply dinner with a friend. He rubbed tiredly at his left temple. Unable to sit still, he paced the small confines of his tiny apartment's living area. The place was little more than glorified student housing, but it was close to his workshop and besides, the rent was cheap. As he passed by the room's picture window, he noticed to his horror that a light snow was beginning to fall. _So much for taking my bike…_He sighed. _I don't mind riding in the rain, but snow is just asking for trouble with all those idiot car guys zooming around like they're hot shit…I wonder if I should call Hirata-sensei and let him know I need to take the bus, then again, if I leave in an hour I should be able to make it on time…_

His mind made up, Renkotsu found it easy to finally relax. Opting for a cup of tea over the Kirins that were in the fridge, the custom motorcycle designer headed towards the kitchen. Once there, he got the kettle from the stove, filling it with water before setting it back on the stove. As the water inside heated up, he got out a mug and box of tea bags, preferring the quick and easy to the long drawn out process of brewing a good cup of tea. When the kettle began to whistle, he turned off the stove and picking up the kettle, he poured some of the water into the mug. While the tea brewed, he left the kitchen to get ready for tonight.

Renkotsu walked over to the large free-standing closet in the main living area and opened it. Pulling out his favorite pair of leather jeans and a black sweater, he set them down on one of the room's two chairs before removing his watch along with his clothes. Shrugging into a faded yukata, the forty four year old reached for his bucket of bathing things, after tying it closed. Leaving his apartment, he headed for the floor's communal bath. Renkotsu was glad to find it empty as he felt he had seen more naked women than a gay man had a right to. Plus he found it irritating that the more disinterested he appeared, the more they flirted with him.

888

Shrugging into his black leather bomber jacket, Renkotsu zipped it up, before leaving his apartment. He hurried down the stairs, timing his departure just right so that he would get to the bus stop just as the vehicle pulled up. As he took his seat near the back, he let his thoughts drift to Suikotsu again. He still could not figure out what the man saw in him. The man was a doctor, which to Renkotsu meant he was very smart, and he was just an artist who preferred designing/building motorcycles to painting on canvas. And if he remembered correctly, the man was friends with some record producer. While the forty four year old was used to doing business with people like that, he knew he did not move in their strata. Shaking the doubts from his mind, he stared out the window as the bus made its way to one of the neighborhoods surrounding the city of Tokyo. And before he knew it, Renkotsu was walking through Suikotsu's apartment complex, looking for the building he lived in.

888

Ringing the doorbell, Renkotsu was surprised to see an anxious-looking Suikotsu answer the door. Despite being impeccably dressed for their evening out, there was a desperate, almost rumpled, look to the man as he invited him in. Excusing himself, Renkotsu watched the older man hurry up out of the genkan. Taking his time, the custom bike designer removed his shoes. Following the sound of Suikotsu's voice, the forty four year old found his "date" on the phone, trying to calm someone down on the other end of the line.

"Listen, Ban, he's in good hands now and if you'll let me go, I'll be there as quickly as I can." Suikotsu nodded as he listened to Bankotsu's frantic reply. "He had been running a mild temperature when I checked on him this afternoon… He must have picked up a secondary infection; that's what the meds are for, Ban… Uh-hunh… Yes, the ventilator is helping him breathe… Listen, Ban, let me go. If I leave now, I can be there in about fifteen, twenty minutes… I'm sorry, Ban, I don't know how to fly. If I did, I'd be there in a heartbeat. You know that… Yes, Ban… I seriously need to go. Just wait outside his room like they told you and as soon as I get there, I promise you I'll find out what's going on and you'll be the first to know, okay? Bye…" Suikotsu hung up the phone. He turned to face Renkotsu. "I'm sorry, Sugita-san, I've got en emergency…"

Renkotsu nodded.

"I'm sorry, Sugita-san. My friend is very ill-"

"Say no more, Hirata-sensei; if you have to go, you have to go. Perhaps we can do this another time?"

Suikotsu sighed. He felt bad about breaking off their dinner-date and the other man's understanding only made him feel worse. An awkward silence threatened to settle between them, but before it could, he said, "Sugita-san, would you like to come with me? I'll probably be extremely busy, but I was hoping we could maybe grab a cup of coffee in the cafeteria…"

"Sure… This is the friend who was ill the night we met, right?"

"Yeah…"

Renkotsu nodded. "Let's go, before Kusao-san calls you again."

888

They arrived to find a distraught Bankotsu pacing just outside his lover's hospital room. Renkotsu thought he looked very old and haggard as well as very young and lost. He watched as Suikotsu spoke quietly to him, before slipping inside. Turning to Bankotsu, he said, "Come, let's go have a seat in the waiting area, Kusao-san."

Bankotsu looked at him blankly, trying to figure out where he knew him from.

"Sugita Renkotsu, we met a couple of weeks ago when I cut my hand…" he prompted.

Recognition dawned in the younger man's eyes. "Oh! Forgive me, Sugita-san, I feel like I haven't slept in days…"

Renkotsu grinned. "If I may be honest with you, you look like you haven't slept in days."

Bankotsu laughed. Running his hand up through his bangs and down the back of his head, he said softly, "I've known him and been together with him for ten years… and I can't know what's going on because I'm not family… Damn it!" He looked up at him, his face crumpling into a grief-stricken mask.

"I know it sucks," Renkotsu replied as he started to gently guide the younger man to a nearby waiting room. "But there's nothing you can do about it. It's not like you can marry him… What?"

The younger man laughed. "If you knew Jak, you wouldn't say that. Kami-sama alone knows how he did it, but he somehow managed to convince me that we should get engaged."

It was Renkotsu's turn to laugh. "I'd love to meet him one of these days." _Like that would ever happen, seeing as what a disaster this night is turning out to be…_

But just as quickly as the younger man's mood had brightened, it darkened. He glanced back at the room his lover was in, wondering why his friend was taking so long in there as they sat down.

"He'll be alright." It was the right thing to say as well as the wrong thing, because before Renkotsu knew it, the younger man had started to cry. He sat there, patiently ignoring the younger man's grief, while secretly envying the fact that he had someone he obviously cared a lot about in his life. Renkotsu was hit hard by the fact that the only reason he had agreed to go out with Suikotsu was that he was lonely. While he was glad the man was pleasing to the eye, if he had been butt-ugly the custom bike designer would have gone anyway just to have a bit of company.

Renkotsu was spared from his dismal thoughts by the sound of soft foot steps approaching. He looked up just as Bankotsu did, quickly casting a wryly amused glance at his hand when the younger man grasped it.

"Sui…?"

"He's resting comfortably now. The fever broke." Suikotsu handed him a surgical mask. "You can go in and see him in a few, Ban, but I want you to go home and get some rest."

"I can't, Sui..."

The doctor frowned. "Ban, if you don't get some rest you're going to wind up in here too."

"I know…but…"

"But nothing. I'll see what I can do, just wait here." Suikotsu turned and walked away. They saw him head over to the nurses' station where he spent several minutes speaking to a nurse on duty, before coming back.

888

Suikotsu looked at his watch. "The sedative should be kicking in about now…" he said more to himself than Renkotsu. Looking up at him, he said, "I'm really sorry tonight was such a disaster, Sugita-san. I just want to wait another hour to make sure Jak's stable before I leave, so dinner is going to be bust."

"It's okay. You're a doctor, you're supposed to look after your patients, Hirata-sensei, but isn't he a little too old to be seeing a pediatrician?" Renkotsu asked, trying to make light of their situation. He had decided he did want to see this man again, and not because he was lonely and looking for companionship, but because Suikotsu was the kind of person Renkotsu liked to associate with. He could care less about the man's money and social status, the fact that he was loyal and caring towards his friends spoke volumes.

He smiled, chuckling softly. "Jak is one of those people I doubt will ever grow old. Physically he will, but mentally…" He shook his head ruefully, although the other man could see the genuine affection he had for his friend twinkling in his eyes.

"Yeah?" Renkotsu grinned back at him.

Suikotsu nodded. "Come on, let's try and scrounge up something edible from the cafeteria while I tell you all about him."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

888

Renkotsu laughed. "He sounds like quite the character."

"He is…" Suikotsu chuckled. "I can't believe I've known him for twenty years. It seems like only yesterday, as clichéd as that sounds, that we were rooming together in college."

"Yeah?"

"Yup. I guess you could say I've known him before he became famous. I'll have to introduce you to him once he's better."

"I'd like that." _Not because he's famous, but because I'm curious to know your friends better… They seem like normal people, not what I'd expect from celebrities at all…_

"He missed his birthday party… If they reschedule it, would you like to come? Jak is a lot of fun at a party, and you already know Ban, and the others are good people too."_ You'll not only meet him, but my ex-wife as well… Which ought to be fun…_ he thought wryly.

"Yeah? I'd love to come…" Renkotsu replied, hoping he kept the surprise out of his voice. _So are we friends or what…?_

"Great! I'll call you and let you know as soon as I do, okay?"

"Sure."

Suikotsu nodded. "I'd better go check on my patients. I'm really sorry this wasn't the evening out you thought it would be."

"Please, Hirata-sensei, there's no need to keep apologizing. What it is, it is…" He shrugged his shoulders. "So let's try this again and see if things turn out differently."

"Okay. I'd like that."

They left the cafeteria and headed back to Jakotsu's room. Renkotsu waited outside, while Suikotsu went in and checked up on his patients. Satisfied that all was going to be well for the rest of the evening he left the room.

888

They stepped out of the hospital and into a winter wonderland. Big, fat, wet flakes lazily fell from the sky. The hospital maintenance crew was already outside, shoveling the walkway and plowing the parking lot.

They made their way carefully to Suikotsu's car and got inside. He turned the key in the ignition and nothing happened. Looking sheepishly over at Renkotsu, he said, "I hope it's not the battery again… I just replaced the stupid thing two weeks ago."

"Let me take a look," Renkotsu said as he opened the car door. "Pop the hood." Closing the door, he walked around the front of the car. Suikotsu did as he was bidden, and after tinkering for a few minutes," the custom motorcycle designer called out, "Try it now."

The car started and Renkotsu got back inside.

"How'd you do that?"

"You had a loose lead going to your starter. Easy to fix, just needed to be tightened."

"Thanks."

They rode back to Sui's house in companionable silence. On the way, the pediatrician asked where his new friend had parked his car. Since it was snowing a bit more heavily than before, both had felt it best to call it a night.

"I came by bus. Normally I'd ride my bike over here, but in this weather I didn't want to take a chance. The first snow of the season is always bad, and this year it's a bit early. The last thing I want is to get hit by some idiot who's out running around on a day they should have stayed home."

Suikotsu gave him a slight nod. "I've seen my fair share of motorcycle accidents during my ER rotations."

Renkotsu nodded. "So it's the bus for me and if they're not running, I'll walk." He shrugged dismissively.

"Would you like a ride home?"

"You don't mind?"

"Not at all, Sugita-san, I'd rather see you home safely than worry about you…"

"Thank you, Hirata-san." Renkotsu proceeded to tell him how to get to his apartment.

They were there rather quickly, the roads being relatively empty because of the late hour and the snow. Suikotsu pulled into the parking lot as close as he could to the building itself. He was disappointed by the way their evening had turned out. He wished they could spend more time together. He turned to say good night to Renkotsu.

Renkotsu was also feeling the same way. He had felt a connection to this quiet and gentle man that was like nothing he had ever felt before. Gathering his courage, he said, "Would you like to come in for a cup of coffee? Or tea if you like that better?"

Suikotsu sighed. "As much as I'd like to, it's late, Sugita-san."

Renkotsu nodded.

"I would like to do this again, sometime. Maybe not with all the craziness, but perhaps we'd have better luck with a movie instead of dinner?"

The custom motorcycle designer laughed ruefully. "Perhaps…"

They stared into each other's eyes, and throwing caution to the wind, Suikotsu closed his eyes and leaned towards the other man. Renkotsu followed his gut instincts and they met halfway in a kiss. Breaking it, they knew there would be another chance, and perhaps more.

"Can I call you tomorrow, Sugita-san?"

Grinning, he replied, "I'd like that. Drive home safely, Hirata-san." Renkotsu got out of the car. Closing the door behind him, he hurried towards his building.

Suikotsu watched him go before driving away…


End file.
